The Columbus Day Storm that blew into Oregon in October 1962 still ranks as one of the most intense and deadliest in the country. Hazelnut grower Rich Birkemeier’s dad had just purchased his first farm in Canby. The storm toppled two-thirds of their trees. Luckily, they had harvested the nuts the previous week. Others weren’t so fortunate. It was a disaster.
Little did hazelnut growers know at the time, but a much bigger threat was already lurking in the limbs of trees still standing just north of Portland. An insidious fungal infection, known as eastern filbert blight, had already invaded orchards in Clark County, Washington, but scientists didn’t figure that out until decades later.
Soon, the outbreak jumped across the Columbia River and slowly spread down the Willamette Valley.
At one point, the relentless disease looked like it could wipe out the industry. No one knew how to stop it. The first infected Oregon orchards were quarantined. Feeling helpless against the fungal onslaught, some farmers wanted to bulldoze their neighbors’ diseased trees. But by the time any farmer spotted the telltale small black bumps dotting the branches, it was too late to stop the spread.